Great ideas for DIY gifts this festive season

It’s almost that time of the year again, time to pull out all the festive gear and get ready for the holidays! This is one of my favourite times of the year, everything about it makes me so happy from the decor, to the food, to the festivities and of course the gifts.

This year I thought I’d share some great ideas for D.I.Y. gifts this festive season in case you’d like to exercise your creative muscle and surprise someone with something awesome made with your own two hands and a squeeze of glue 🙂

I have partnered up with the folks from Consol Glass to bring you three nice and simple D.I.Y. ideas which include items from their awesome jar selection!

I have chosen three things that are completely different, but equally as charming if presented as a gift. I have something for the plant lovers, the cake lovers and the person who just loves having something fun sitting on their shelf/desk.

In this post, I’m going to show you how to make a D.I.Y. Terrarium in a jar complete with its own dinosaur population. And if you click on the next two links you will learn how to create A Jar Cake Tutorial, which will have you chomping down on the softest, fluffiest peppermint vanilla cake in no time! And in this post, I’ll show you how to make a set of sweet little snowglobes that’ll make anyone’s day just that much brighter.

Let’s begin…

This D.I.Y. project was so much fun to work on, from picking the plants, to landscaping the environment that they’ll live in together with their prehistoric friends.

PS: The Consol Glass store is located at 16 Waterval Cresent, Woodmead and there are loads of cool things to buy, so be prepared to be enticed.

This is what you’re going to need:

1. Varying sized Consol Glass Jars, I used a medium-sized one and then one that was 1-size down. You can use any shape or size jar you like as long as you can alter the lid to let air in. So picking a jar with a glass lid is not going to work 🙂 Also make sure you get jars with nice wide openings so it’s easy to place things inside.
2. A selection of small succulents, you can also use tom thumbs.
3. Moss – which requires little of everything really, soil, light and moisture. It’s also great to absorb any excess moisture in the jar.
4. Small stones and some nice fresh potting soil.
5. Little creatures – I used a few small dinosaurs.
6. Gold spraypaint – or whatever colour takes your fancy.
7. A pair of hardy scissors, a small scoop of sorts.

DIRECTIONS HOW TO MAKE A TERRARIUM:

Step 1: Place your jar on its side and then add a few scoops on stones along the bottom. The stones help with drainage and aeration.

Step 2: Add a few scoops of potting soil and spread it out over the stones. It should be deep enough for the plants to be able to root, so about 2 1/2 inches.

Step 3: Choose which plants you’d like to add to your terrarium then pop them out of their trays and dust off their excess soil so that you see the roots. I used a small bit of moss for the corner and then two different succulents that vary in colour and height to give the landscape a bit of depth.

Step 4: Make a small hole with your finger in the areas you’d like to plant your pieces then place them in roots first. Make sure that you cover the roots properly and pat the soil down firmly to keep them in place. It’s easiest to start at the back of the jar and work your way forward.

Step 5: Get out your little animals and start placing them in between or next to your plants.

Step 6: Take your lid and separate the two pieces. Using a pair of scissors cut the circular disc that makes up the lid in half. Spraypaint all the pieces.

Step 7: Once the pieces have dried place the rim as well as one half of the circle back onto the jar, screwing it shut. Make sure the semi-circle sits at the bottom to keep the soil from falling out.

Step 8: Lightly spritz your terrarium once a week and enjoy! Also, make sure it doesn’t sit in direct sunlight.